And so it ends

Hi everyone.

Well firstly I should apologise for not keeping everyone as updated as I would have liked. I thought I would have had a lot more time to kill here than I thought but its been so hectic!

Day one of competition was the 500m Time Trial. I had quite high expectations that I would ride under the 34second barrier on this night and to fall short – by a considerable amount was a little upsetting. None the less I walked away with a silver medal to Anna Meares and third place was Rebecca James from Wales. I haven't been specifically training for the 500 and as they say you get what you train for so whilst I am disappointed with the time it wasnt a bad time considering I havent prepared for it very much at all.

The second day was the Team Sprint in which I teamed up with my fellow team mate Anna Meares. My warm up was very promising and I showed some signs that the form was there to replicate the form I had at the worlds. But alas it was not to be. Both rides, although the second one was better, were very average for me and whilst we walked away with a gold medal it wasn’t what I was hoping for again in terms of time and I feel very privileged to have won the gold medal with Anna. It was the first time I almost cried on the podium and I know that my attempt at singing the anthem was made even worse by me trying to hold the tears back!

The program here was a little strange and both Anna and I had to back up a few hours after the Team Sprint final and ride the Sprint Qualifying. Again I had a substandard performance riding an 11.4 to qualify in second position behind Anna. By this stage I started wondering where my legs were and why I had so little form to work with. Its quite a disturbing feeling and one in which I wish not to experience at a major meet like this again - but its times like that which make you a better athlete and a better person and my coach Gary West said to me that there is nothing more I can do then just keep on going and think about it all after we finish racing. So I walked out of the track and left all the emotion behind and went back to the village t get ready for my last day of racing.

The following day the sprint rounds began and in the first round I met Charlene Joiner from Scotland. Charlene is just out of juniors and she put up a good fight for her first major senior meet. I beat her in two straight rounds to progress through to the semi finals where I met Rebecca James from Wales. James is a former Junior World Champion so I knew I would have to be on my game to beat her but I was super confident that I would. Unfortunately I made a couple of crucial errors in both my rounds which cost me both races and so I was into the bronze medal ride off against fellow Aussie Emily Rosemond. Although I was pretty devastated, because the sprint was the one I wanted to win the most I was able to stay cool, calm and collected before the bronze ride off.

I went into the bronze ride off with confidence as my legs ironically were starting to feel less like they had no power and more like they were out to ride a bike fast! In the first round I actually won the race, however I was disqualified for entering the sprinters lane when Emily was still in it. This was a bit of a touch and go decision I felt as the race was already virtually over when I made my move around the outside however I did do the wrong thing, it was unintentional and I didn't mean it and the consequence of my actions were that I lost a bronze medal. To say that I was devastated is quite an understatement and when I was informed of this the emotion of the whole 3days hit me pretty hard and it took me a few good minutes to suck some air in cop it on the chin. Whilst I did shed some tears I managed to get myself together (mostly) and walk over to the media and talk to them - it was one of the hardest things I have had to do. All in all I was happy to see Australia get two of the three medals, when we probably could have all received one!

To end on a disappointing note was hard and after all the racing had finished I am still finding it quite hard to come to terms with some things and there are a lot of emotions running through me – one of them being elation with my gold and silver medals. I have already entered what I call the 'post race depression' that I usually get after a major meet like this because I trained so hard for so long and when it ends you know how much hard work you did to get there and then you realise how much hard work you have to do to make sure that next time you are bigger and better. Its a daunting, exciting and challenging task. Of which the lows of this competition are my strongest motivating factors to make sure that at the worlds next year I go out and get what I want out of that meet.

And so I sit here now writing this blog on my last day in India. The sun is setting and I am sitting outside by the pool enjoying the fact that the heat of the day is being lost in the night. Tomorrow morning I am up at 4am to catch the bus to the airport before finally starting my epic trip home, of which I will be back home in Sydney and able to finally see my family again after 12weeks.

After this I have a busy few months with Melbourne World Cup, Oceanias, and possibly Perth GP and they are made all the more important as Olympic Qualification begins this season.

Until next time take care all!

Karls : )

Hi all,

Well the days are rushing past in a bit of a blur here. I am pretty happy because I am sleeping really well and seemed to have gotten into my normal routine quite easily. Although the days are rushing past there has been some ups and downs along the way, but this is to be expected not only in a foreign environment but one in which is very different to anything I have experienced before – not just in terms of the country but in terms of the Games itself.

Yesterday we had the Australian flag raising ceremony in the International Zone. This was very cool and we were treated to some traditional Indian customs like all the different styles of dance and music as well as the different garments that different regions people get married in. We even got some traditional scarves which I have hung above my bed.

Dancers performing for us at the flag raising ceremony

This was an awesome spectacle! All the different costumes represent the different styles of dance that the Indians have across their culture

We all got given scarves when we arrived! Jason Niblett shows off his.Some of the team and I posing for a photo! Left to right: Me, Anna Meares, Cameron Meyer, Daniel Ellis, Shane Perkins and Jason

The flag raises into the air! AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!!!

We have had a few more training sessions and I am starting to feel my legs come together finally. Its quite a weird experience preparing for a major competition and I am still finding it quite hard to relax and let my body do its thing. I had a bit of a moment a few days ago because I had quite an average session, after which my coach told me to pull my head in and trust that its going to happen for me. Then the next day I had a better session – I wouldn’t say it was anything special but it was better and our motto for this competition (my coach and I) is that today was good and tomorrow will be better. I literally can not fault my preparation for this meet so I am content that what ever happens out on the boards I couldn’t do anything more or less to this moment. For the time being I am concentrating on taking things as they come – the time for me is right now.

Back home in Australia the World Road Cycling Championships concluded today in Geelong with Alan Davis coming third in the men's road race – a great effort! In the other events Luke Durbridge came second in the under 23 mens Time Trial and he is the youngest person to medal since Fabian Cancellera 10years ago – which is an amazing achievement considering Fabian is this decades most celebrated Time Triallist in the world, Fabian also won the Time Trial. Riche Porte came 4^th in the mens time trial and a big congratulations goes out to Michael Matthews who won the under 23 mens road race – enjoy those pretty rainbows!!

In the women's events the girls did some pretty hard and tough work on the front in the road race, with as I have heard Tiffany Cromwell had the ride of the day amongst the Aussie women. Good work to all the roadies.

The track team and I were informed yesterday that there are two new additions to the team here in Delhi with Luke Durbridge arriving tomorrow to ride as well as Michael Matthews so we look forward to seeing them and celebrating their fantastic achievements, as well as welcoming in the road team in a few days time.

Tonight the Opening Ceremony will officially open the Games here in Delhi and the team and I will be watching from the comforts of our rooms. I am actually quite glad we decided not to go to the opening ceremony as its way too hot outside and although the ceremony starts at 8.30pm we have to be in the holding areas from 3.30pm onwards. Today we were told that over 6000athletes are now settled into the village and you can start to see this with the dining hall being packed at most hours of the day. Because we didn't get to go to the Opening Ceremony we decided as a team to dress in our formal gear and go to dinner in it! We got a few strange looks and some people thought we missed the bus to the Ceremony! It was lots of fun and good to wear the gear as it will probably be the only time I will ever wear it!

Jason, me and Shane lining up for tea!

Cameron Meyer and I

Ashlee Ankudinoff and I.

Anna and I looking sharp! : )

My roomie, Belinda Goss and I

Tomorrow I hop on the track to do my final day of training – pre race! I will have some individual efforts to do and then some Team Sprint work with Anna and then its all over! 3 days of racing! Until Tuesday everyone take care and I hope to hear you all cheering for me and the Aussies!